The Four Color Media Monitor

Newsarama's listed 25 examples of what they claim are the "best" of 2024, and as can only so often be expected, quite a few dreadful examples turn up. For example, Universal Monsters: Frankenstein:

With Universal Monsters: Frankenstein writer/artist Michael Walsh has crafted an original tale that sits alongside James Whale's 1931 film, enhancing the role played by Doctor Frankenstein's assistant Fritz and introducing Paul, a headstrong young orphan whose late father provided some of the Monster's reanimated body parts. Mostly staying true to the social conventions of the film's 19th Century milieu, Henry's headstrong fiancée Elizabeth adds some contemporary edge, instigating a discussion about the sexual politics of the day and acting as the story's moral centre. With the narrative subtly shifting between different time periods throughout the four issues, Walsh doesn't shirk from the brutality of the not-so-good Doctor's questionable actions with many of the characters meeting violent ends, while the famous scene where Little Maria ominously meets the Monster by a lake is recreated with understated tenderness. Aided by Toni-Marie Griffin's sombre colours, there's a pleasing simplicity to Walsh's fluid linework, and his depiction of the Monster adds a more naturalistic but no less scary element to Boris Karloff's memorable make-up.

Gee, this is all the world needs. More emphasis upon the horror genre, and I've got a feeling I don't want to know what the focus on sexual politics is like in this tale either. Then, there's a Poison Ivy series:

Three years ago, if someone had suggested that an ongoing Poison Ivy series would exist at all, you might have scratched your head and asked: "Why?" Sure, people love the Batman villain and, like her girlfriend Harley Quinn, she has become more of an anti-hero over the years, but she's not necessarily a natural fit for the lead of a series. Yet since 2022 writer G. Willow Wilson, along with Marcio Takara and occasional fill-in artists, has been making the case that Ivy isn't just a great lead, she's one of the cornerstone characters of the DC Universe. In 2024 the series brought on a character redefining Poison Ivy: Year One style arc, a final battle with her former mentor and creator, the Floronic Man, and it's just kept building from there. A recent crossover one-shot dug deeper into the book's Swamp Thing influences without ignoring how Ivy is uniquely different than other characters steeped in The Green. [...]

It's bad enough we have a case of villain worship going on here, but making this worse is that a left-wing propagandist for Islam is writing it. And if memory serves, wasn't it the disgraced Neil Gaiman who came up with the decidedly unnecessary idea of Poison Ivy being a protege of the Floronic Man? Well we definitely don't need something that draws from whatever Gaiman came up with back in the day. Then, there's the following Daredevil series:

Leaning into Matt Murdock's religious side can be a gamble, given how divisive the topic can be, especially when mixed with superhero fantasy. But current Daredevil writer Saladin Ahmed and lead artist Aaron Kuder have managed to thread the needle in an incredibly compelling way by first setting Matt up as a struggling priest believing he is on a mission from God after dying and being brought back from Hell, and then forcing him to confront physical manifestations of demonic sin that may have followed him out of the abyss. Daredevil rarely butts heads with the supernatural, but Ahmed has kept things at least a little bit grounded by peppering in an absolutely chaotic rendition of Bullseye. On the other hand, things have taken an unprecedented turn with Kingpin first becoming possessed, then seeking penitence with Daredevil – a turnabout so hauntingly effective, it has led to Matt Murdock questioning his own faith in his inability to absolve Wilson Fisk. Daredevil is often said to be at its best as a title when Matt Murdock is on the backfoot, fighting like an underdog against not just the world around him, but even himself. If that's true, the current run is taking the lesson to heart in a tragic (but extremely readable) way.

So they make things worse by ignoring Ahmed's own disturbing record just as much as Wilson's. There's every chance Ahmed has quite an awful take on religion apart from what he sadly adheres to, and as the paragraph indicates, Matt Murdock sounds like he's being forced by the writer to throw his Christian faith out the window. Wonder what Frank Miller has to say about that? Considering how pathetic he's become of recent, probably nothing at all. And why must Matt absolve the Kingpin based upon the crook's sordid record in Marvel history? What an embarrassment. Newsarama also listed an Image title, Ain't No Grave, another built on violent themes:

Skottie Young and Jorge Corona's supernatural western has a simple but irresistible premise. Ryder is a reformed gunslinger and bandit who has traded in her life of robbery and violence for a beautiful family. When she's diagnosed with a terminal illness, however, she picks up the pistols once more and sets out with a new target in mind: Death itself. Published over five issues (each themed around one of the stages of grief), Ain't No Grave was as exciting and funny as you'd expect from the creator of I Hate Fairyland, but it was also shot through with a palpable melancholy. The fourth issue, titled 'Depression', was a near-wordless trek through a barren landscape, while the final part brought Ryder to an emotional reckoning with both her immortal target and with the consequences of her often brutal life. Corona and colorist Jean-Francois Beaulieu do striking work here, while Young's script uses the fantastical premise to say something moving and truthful about the lasting impact of bloodshed and the important things in life.

Something tells me that if it depicts its subject matter through a comedic lens, chances are very low the comic will say anything educational about why bloodshed out of barbarism is wrong, nor will it acknowledge that making gore galore look entertaining is unhealthy. Now here's an item about Batman & Robin: Year One:

If there is any one exhausted era of comic book mythology, it's "What was Batman doing near the beginning of his career?" Everyone knows the story of how he met Dick Grayson and turned an orphaned acrobat into the Boy Wonder. What sets Batman & Robin: Year One apart, though, is that it's not only focused on the rise of the Dynamic Duo and what it took for the two to work together as a unit. Instead, author Mark Waid understands that you cannot raise a kid on crimefighting alone, and dives into Bruce Wayne's own learning curve as an adoptive figure as well. The result, fueled by Chris Samnee’s powerhouse art, is one of the best renditions of this all-too familiar tale so far. And though the story involves a new threat arriving in Gotham City and some recognizable villainous faces, the comic is at its most delightful when it harnesses the awe of getting to hang around with Batman. I mean, come on. He's BATMAN.

Umm, "hanging around" with Batman doesn't work if the script for the story doesn't. And Waid's lost his way a long time ago, so why should we expect much from this latest take on the whole "year one" approach that began as early as the time Miller wrote for Batman in the late 80s? I do recall it was around that time Jason Todd, the 2nd Robin, had his background changed barely 4 years after his debut, yet DC editorial let bad storytelling ensuing afterwards serve as justification for writing him getting slain by the Joker soon after in the otherwise stupid and ill-advised telephone poll. And what does Waid "understand" these days? Next is an X-Factor series written by another social justice panderer:

As a title, X-Factor has been ripe for reinvention since its earliest years when it shifted focus from a team made up of the original five X-Men to a new group of government recruits. And across its many eras and new directions in the time since, few have felt as immediately vital as writer Mark Russell, artist Bob Quinn, colorist Jesus Aburtov, and letterer Joe Caramagna's recent X-Factor relaunch. X-Factor picks up on a throughline that's been going in the X-Men universe for decades now, with a team of sponsored mutant recruits whose main mission is to maintain popularity with an audience that may or may not be watching simply to see them fail. And fail they do, with an ever-evolving, often revolving cast of mutant heroes who are simply being fed into an almost literal social media meat grinder. It's a tragically satirical take on the fleeting nature of celebrity, the antagonism that can exist between artist and audience, and the power of bigotry over the bottom line, all wrapped up in an ongoing subplot about the mutants who dare to resist the fickle whims of those who feed off of terminally online clout-chasing.

Say, isn't that the same guy who penned a political take on the Snagglepuss character from Hanna-Barbera animation like the Quick Draw McGraw Show, and even penned sex-negative takes on Red Sonja? What do we need his woke drivel for? "Failure" is unfortunately the result here too, and if they're going to take woke perspective on the issues involved, it's no wonder they're bound to fall flat. Then comes Image's One Hand and Six Fingers:

Moody and intense, The One Hand and The Six Fingers is a triumph for Image, a company that's already found significant success in the crime and horror genres. But what sets the cat-and-mouse story found in The One Hand and The Six Fingers apart is that it's actually two separate but intertwined tales, by different creative teams. The One Hand, by Ram V and Laurence Campbell, details grizzled detective Ari Nasser's attempts to catch a serial killer that he's quite familiar with while The Six Fingers, by Dan Watters and Sumit Kumar, allows us to see things from the killer's point of view. While one can certainly attempt to read each series by itself, the two comics and their mythology intersect to create a puzzle that makes reading both the much more satisfying option. The trade paperback collecting both series hit stores this week, so if these flew under your radar on their initial release, now's your chance to get the whole gloriously suspenseful picture in one place.

Once more, a chance to focus instead on something joyful has been wasted for the sake of this horror garbage, which even makes sure to spotlight the villain's viewpoint. Now, here's Newsarama's choice of Ultimate X-Men:

Peach Momoko’s Ultimate X-Men might disappoint those looking for, well, the X-Men. However, what it lacks in Cyclops and Wolverine, it makes up for by revitalizing the themes of the series that have been a focal point since they debuted in 1963. Ultimate X-Men hones in on the experience of growing up and feeling like an outcast, all the while discovering how our differences can either empower us or lead us to lash out against the world. Momoko's art and writing are both great, but what she excels in is grappling with the heightened feelings of youth – main character Hisako Ichiki/Armor and her new friends all experience excitement, wonder, grief and guilt on outsized levels, with each feeling tying into their burgeoning mutant abilities. Combine that with Momoko's ability to craft some truly haunting visuals (A few panels could've easily come out of horror creator Junji Ito's catalog), and you have an X-Men title that both feels like a tribute to what's made Marvel's mutants connect to readers for so long and an effective, entirely refreshing adventure.

If this is a horror-themed take on the X-Men, I'm not sure what they believe is so great about this. And then, if there's a most telling embarrassment among these "choices", it would have to be Alan Scott: The Green Lantern:

When Alan Scott, the original Golden Age Green Lantern, was officially retconned into being a gay man back in 2011, the response was certainly mixed. It only took 13 years, but DC has finally paid off that decision through Alan Scott: The Green Lantern, the character's recent solo limited series which proved to be not just a beautifully rendered flashback to the Golden Age of superheroes, but also a delicate, tragic, and heartfelt rumination on the nature of what it means to have a secret identity, and what happens when even that isn't enough to provide the freedom of living as one's truest, most authentic self. Writer Tim Sheridan, artist Cian Tormey, colorist Matt Herms, and letterer Lucas Gattoni turn in one of the year's most surprisingly affecting stories in Alan Scott: The Green Lantern, reminding us that the medium of superhero comics can still be reflective of the human experience in deeper, more literary ways, even in an era when bubblegum and popcorn comics are filling the stands. [...]

It's atrocious how the columnists are going all out to normalize and justify this retcon, which did nothing for Alan's reputation as a character, nor did it improve sales. Even Roy Thomas was very displeased. "Deeper" and "more litetary"? Only in the sense that it's woke. And then, up next comes Absolute Batman, apparently part of DC's idea for how to produce a variation on Marvel's Ultimate line:

One of the two biggest sellers of the year (alongside Marvel's Ultimate Spider-Man) Absolute Batman kicked DC's new Absolute universe off in fine style. Returning to the Dark Knight after a four-year break, long-time Batman scribe Scott Snyder breathes new life into the Caped Crusader, stripping the young Bruce Wayne of his fortune and reconfiguring him as a blue collar worker living in Crime Alley, assisted in his bid to take on the violent and mysterious Party Animals by veteran spy and assassin Alfred Pennyworth. Alongside appearances from Mayor Jim Gordon and rookie street cop Barbara Gordon, Snyder throws in cameos from Harvey Dent, Oswald Cobblepot, Edward Nigma and Waylon Jones – here reinvented as Bruce's shady, but seemingly largely decent, peer group who are yet to adopt any supervillain personas. With many pages featuring nearly 20 panels, the real revelation is artist Nick Dragotta, who proves equally adept at the quieter, character moments as he is at the viscerally choreographed fight scenes. Assisted by Frank Martin's muted colours, his bulked-up Batman is truly scary while #2's splash-page debut of the Bat-Truck takes the breath away. With Absolute Superman and Absolute Wonder Woman also impressing, there's high hopes for the forthcoming Absolute Green Lantern and Absolute Martian Manhunter titles.

This is tiresome already, and even Marvel's Ultimate line came awfully late nearly a quarter century ago. I suppose this is the current editorial's idea of how to pander to anybody who dislikes the idea of a millionaire fighting crime altruistically? That Alfred Pennyworth's been turned into an assassin in this tale is also very dismaying. Making him a spy is one thing, but making him an assassin is distasteful. I hesitate to think what any additional Absolute titles will be about, and it goes without saying cameos by the rogues gallery alone don't a good story make. Then, wouldn't you know it, a choice that was surely no accident comes up with the Ninja Turtles:

Are Jason Aaron and his rotating cadre of artists delivering the best run on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles since Eastman and Laird introduced the characters decades ago? It's probably too early to make that call, but based on the issues released in 2024, this might turn out to be an all-timer. Part of that is because of the innovative, slow-build structure inherent in the run so far, with each issue focusing on one of the Turtles, who have all been scattered around the globe after a falling out in their past. Each of the first four issues serves as a character piece, therefore, and IDW has perfectly matched top-tier artists to their favorite Turtle characters. Joëlle Jones took on Raphael in prison, Rafael Albuquerque tackled Michelangelo as a TV star in Tokyo, Cliff Chiang delivered a depressed Leonardo meeting some regular-aged non-mutant normal turtles in China, and Chris Burnham took away Donatello's machines and threw him in a hunting zoo. And in each case, those artists are delivering the work of their careers. December 18's #5 is set to bring Darick Robertson into the fold for an issue about Casey Jones, before Juan Ferreyra takes over as the series' first ongoing artist in 2025. Superb art, great character building, thrilling action sequences… It's enough to make you cheer "cowabunga" in your local comic book shop.

No, Aaron and company are incapable of anything but social justice allusions. Leave it to IDW to take a once well regarded indie comic and put it in the hands of a woke writer, proving once more that Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman made a terrible mistake selling their product to a conglomerate. It's also dispiriting that a leftist like Robertson will be working with Aaron and company on this. No "cowabunga" to be had here. And then, speaking of the Ultimate line, the Ultimate Spider-Man series comes up:

It's no secret that fans have practically been begging Marvel Comics to truly reunite Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson (and the publisher has come this close several times in recent years). And while the concept of the pair as a romantic couple remains confined to alternate universes, the new era of Ultimate Spider-Man, launched just about a year ago, has certainly delivered on the premise of the Parker-Watson family. But there's so much more to writer Jonathan Hickman and lead artist Marco Checchetto's ongoing Ultimate Spider-Man title, the flagship of the new Ultimate Universe, than the gimmick of Peter and MJ as married with kids. The title is a reinvention of Peter Parker's origins, to be sure, but what really stands out is the way Ultimate Spider-Man totally redefines nearly every relationship in Peter Parker's life, from Uncle Ben and Aunt May, to J. Jonah Jameson, and even Harry Osborn. [...]

If Marvel truly wanted to reunite Peter and MJ, they'd do it in the 616 universe proper, and not in a cheap knockoff. They say the couple concept remains confined to alternate dimensions, and that's just what's happening here too, so what's the point? They're not arguing that Marvel editorial should reunite Peter and MJ in the 616 universe, and if they won't, it's no surprise Marvel won't even remotely consider. Another Absolute DC title coming up here is that for Wonder Woman:

The launch of DC's Absolute Universe was surely the year's biggest comics event, but the most exciting thing about it has been the sheer quality of the books themselves. All three titles have been nothing short of excellent so far, but while Absolute Batman is the more attention-grabbing title, it's Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman's thrilling reinvention of the amazing Amazon that stole our hearts. Although the circumstances surrounding this new take on Diana are on the surface bleak – she is raised not on Themyscira, but in Hell by Circe – the warmth and goodness of the character is still very much present and correct. While Thompson's script strikes a fine balance between the tough and the heartfelt, Hayden Sherman's elegant pencils and innovative layouts, and colorist Jordie Bellaire's palette of infernal reds and blacks, make for a seriously good-looking comic. Look, we realize this is a very high ranking for a comic that's only published two issues so far (though we have also read December 26's #3 and boy are we looking forward to talking about that...) but by placing Diana in a much harsher world while retaining all of her essential goodness of spirit, Thompson and Sherman have created something genuinely breathtaking. Plus this Wonder Woman has an absolutely massive sword.

Gee, just what we need - a classic babe being raised in the worst place to be. And isn't Thompson one of the most notably woke leftists working in comicdom today? One more reason to skip this and not be fooled. Mainly because they're unlikely to make any clear points about what's making the real world harsh as it is. Finally, they also listed Fantastic Four:

In the decades since their creators Jack Kirby and Stan Lee first brought the Fantastic Four to comics, they've proven a tough concept to truly nail for many creators. Even some of the most loved and well-regarded FF runs have found success by focusing on one or two specific aspects of Marvel's multi-faceted – and notoriously hard to pin down – first family. For the last couple years though, writer Ryan North and lead artist Iban Coello have taken the Fantastic Four title back to its roots as a family drama filled with weird science and strange sci-fi happenings. In 2024 in particular, Fantastic Four has become Marvel's most consistently delightful comic, and one of the most successful comics on the stands at hitting its mark month in and month out. [...]

Sorry, but most readers have long learned not to be fooled, considering how bad the woke editors and writers have made Marvel/DC in over 2 decades. The claim it was tough to nail down what the FF is about, any more than any other Marvel creation, is laughable. Earlier writers got it, and newer ones don't, because they adhere to political correctness far too often, and at the expense of continuity as it was until the turn of the century, before it collapsed under PC weight. To say 2024 in particular is the "best" moment ever for FF only ignores seriousness.

So anyway, another fluff-coated "article" by mainstream writers who only serve as apologists and tabloid writers for the sake of the establishment, and they won't admit Marvel/DC lost direction long ago, let alone that their ongoing monthly series have continued for far too long, one of the reasons why they fell into decay.

Labels: bad editors, dc comics, Fantastic Four, golden calf of villainy, indie publishers, islam and jihad, licensed products, marvel comics, misogyny and racism, Spider-Man, women of dc, women of marvel, Wonder Woman